There is nothing quite like warm, flaky, buttermilk biscuits served fresh from the oven!
Whip up these biscuits with a few simple pantry staples, a touch of butter, and creamy buttermilk for an effortless and delicious treat.
Spread them with lots of butter, homemade jam, or smother them in sausage gravy.
Why We Love Buttermilk Biscuits
- Pantry ingredients: These biscuits are made with simple ingredients that you probably have in the pantry.
- Extra flaky: These come out layer upon layer of flaky buttery goodness.
- Add-ins: Mix in some finely shredded cheddar cheese & chives, bacon, or fresh herbs and parmesan.
Ingredients for Buttermilk Biscuits
Flour – I use all-purpose flour in this recipe as I always have it on hand.
Butter – For the best flaky layers, use cold butter. Cut it into pieces and then mix it into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter until it is the size of small peas.
Buttermilk –Buttermilk adds tenderness and combined with baking soda, it helps the biscuits rise. It has a very slightly tangy flavor and makes baked goods tender.
Variations – Buttermilk biscuits are great with variations in the dough. Try about 1 cup of cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of chives, feta, dill, or bacon. Use part whole-wheat flour or brush with melted butter or garlic butter after baking!
How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits
Here are the steps to the best buttermilk biscuits:
- Combine dry ingredients according to the recipe below.
- Cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in buttermilk until moistened.
- Knead the dough gently and fold over a few times to create layers.
- Cut with biscuit cutter or a sharp knife and bake until golden brown.
Serve Sweet or Savory! Anything goes. Serve with honey butter, tomato jam, bacon gravy, or hamburger gravy.
Holly’s Tips for Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
Biscuits are easy to make but like pie crust, scones, and other quick dough recipes, the key to success is the way the dough is handled.
- Ensure butter is COLD, if time allows, cut it into cubes and place it in the freezer for a few minutes before starting.
- Work the butter into the flour until you have crumbs about the size of peas.
- When cutting the biscuits, don’t twist the cutter. Use one simple cut straight down. Twisting the cutter seals the edges and the biscuits won’t rise as well. The dough can also be patted into a rectangle and cut into squares with a sharp knife.
- Ensure the cutter is sharp, don’t use a glass to cut biscuits because the blunt edge will cause the same issue as above.
- Don’t overmix, the dough needs to just hold together and the butter needs to stay cold. Handling the dough too much will result in a tough biscuit. The heat from your hands will melt the butter.
- Use a lightly floured surface so you don’t add too much additional flour to the dough.
Freeze Before or After Baking
To make buttermilk biscuits ahead of time, prepare the dough as directed, cut out biscuits, and freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in a freezer bag.
To bake from frozen, preheat the oven to 425° and bake the biscuits for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Any leftover biscuits can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days. They will keep it in an air-tight container in the freezer for 1 week. Reheat in the oven.
More Easy Sides
Did you enjoy this Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and a rating below!
Flaky Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup cold butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, & salt.
- Add the cold butter to the bowl and use two forks or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until the butter resembles large crumbs the size of a pea.
- Gradually add the buttermilk and stir with a spoon just until moistened. (You may need about 2 tablespoons more or less of buttermilk).
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times until the dough holds together.
- Pat the dough into a square and fold it over on itself 5-6 times (this creates the layers in the biscuits).
- Pat the dough to 1-inch thick and cut using a sharp biscuit cutter, reshaping the scraps as needed.
- Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.
Video
Notes
- Ensure butter is COLD. I place the butter in the freezer for a few minutes before starting.
- Cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs about the size of peas.
- When cutting the biscuits, don’t twist the cutter. Just do one simple cut straight down. If twisted, this seals the edges and the biscuits won’t rise as well. The dough can also be pat into a rectangle and cut into squares.
- Use a sharp biscuit cutter. A round glass will produce the same size, the blunt edge will cause the same issue as above.
- Don’t overmix, the dough needs to just hold together and the butter needs to stay cold. Handling the dough too much will result in a tough biscuit. The heat from your hands will melt the butter.
- Use a lightly floured surface so you don’t add too much additional flour to the dough.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Side Dish
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Recipe slightly adapted from Food.com
Excellent Biscuit Recipe!
Delicious And Easy To Prepare!
Thank You!
These biscuits were delicious!
Can your Buttermilk Biscuits be made with gf flour and non dairy milk and butter?
We have not tried this recipe with gluten-free flour or non-dairy milk and butter so I can’t say for sure. Other readers have made these with GF flour with success but suggested using a bit more buttermilk. Let us know how they turn out!
10 minutes was too long in my oven at 450!
Sorry to hear that, Shelley! If you decide to try this recipe again, just keep an eye on them and pull them out of the oven when they’re golden.
These were amazing !!! THE BEST recipe I have ever found! I highly recommend. Also, I recommend watching the video so you can see the texture of the dough.
Southerners never use butter in biscuits because the water contents of butter can vary. Rather, we use shortening – or even better lard! When making buttermilk biscuits, the only leavening agent needed is baking soda, since the buttermilk provides all the acid needed. Baking powder contains both soda and cream or tartar (acid) and isn’t needed in buttermilk buscuits.
True!
But this recipe is so much more forgiving than your method. Even a Northerner like me could get this one right!
Sounds easy and excellent. I’m going to try now!
best biscuits ever
Absolutely LOVE THIS RECIPE! Simple and they taste so good! I put my butter in the freezer, then I grate it! Works really good that way….
That’s a great tip Cheryl! I am so glad you love this recipe!
I’ve tried so many biscuit recipes- some made with 7Up, or just cream, etc. and they were good but these are great! So tall and fluffy and tender! Made them spur of the moment while fixing breakfast and they were quick and easy to make. I have a convection oven so I lowered the temperature to 425 and they turned out perfect! Thank you for the great recipe!
Made the beef stew and the flakey biscuits! They were amazing! You made me a star in my house
I am so happy to hear the recipes were a big hit J!
I used cheddar and chives for the biscuits (just a handful of cheese and 1/4 c of chives. The recipe was easy to follow. The results were STUPENDOUS! I’m very happy with yet another one of your recipes!
That sounds delicious! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Lisa!
Can anyone tell me what size biscuit cutters they used to get this quantity equally to the recipe ? I have a set of cutter rings and unsure what size makes 10 biscuits
I used a 3-inch biscuit cutter. I hope this helps Bill!
I use frozen butter which I grate into the dry ingredients. Easy peasy
That’s a great tip Brenda!
Absolutely the best biscuits. I baked them in a cast iron pan . It made the bottom very yummy.
Great biscuits love them my all time favorite
This is an amazing biscuit recipe!
They just came out of the oven & of course we had to try one immediately. They came out Marvelous! I followed the recipe to the letter. Freezing the butter made all the difference.
The only thing was that they tilted. One side was higher than the other.
Does anyone know why that happened?
I didn’t place them very close together because the recipe didn’t say to one way or the other. So they were about 2″ apart. They may not look great; but they’re going to be smothered in sausage gravy.
This was my first time making homemade biscuits, other than using boxed Bisquik.
These Are Waaay Better!
I am so glad you enjoyed these Patti! When you cut out the biscuits, did you twist the cutter? That can cause the biscuits to be lopsided. You can also bake them with the sides touching and that should help!